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I haven't looked really hard for it, but the only place I've seen so far sells it for a prize larger than the total sum of that last order I placed...

1612 Victory Racer

After picking these up from the store last Saturday I returned home and placed an order online. It arrived today. Yeah, baby!

Aren't LEGO prices usually the same number on both sides of the Atlantic, but with a different currency sign in front of it?

That Pirates line is just too cool to resist...

Well, it's done. I just returned home with Brickbeard's Bounty and the two Pirates impulse sets. Soldiers' Fort, Loot Island, Kraken Attackin' and Cannon Battle have been ordered... I suppose the answer was indeed "nay" then.

Layout The two weeks I originally had planned for this were a slight miscalculation. My parents would not return until the 29th and the town stayed intact a few days longer. Hurray! The town was finally dismantled on Friday, May 28th (Day 19). It took me the better part of the afternoon, but most of my sets are now neatly tucked away again. My old LEGOs have returned to their boxes in the attic, as complete as possible. Most of my new sets have been bagged and boxed and sit under my bed, while some remain on display in my room. But in the twelve days between the town's initial completion and its final destruction, things did not stay entirely unchanged... Day 16: Tuesday, May 25th 2010 I had an exam today. I'm applying for a study that requires me to have Economics on my high school diploma. I don't have that, so the school I'm applying to gave me an exam so I could proove I knew enough economics to study there. On May 25, I got in the car and drove for two hours all the way up to Enschede to take my exam. I breezed through the test and got the opportunity to await my result while they graded it. Two hours after I arrived in Enschede I exited the school building, a freshly gained economics pass in my pocket. Huzzah! With Enschede being quite close to the Dutch/German border, a plan had formed in my mind over the past week. So after a quick phone call to my girlfriend to bring forth the happy news, I got back in the car and drove on... to Oberhausen. To visit a true LEGO Store for the first time. I arrived in Oberhausen after a drive of just over an hour. I sauntered around CentrO a bit, the large shopping centre that holds the LEGO Store, along with lots of other stores and restaurants. I wander into the Kids department of the Galeria Kaufhof and spot some lovely new LEGO sets not yet available in The Netherlands: the 3221 LEGO truck and the 7566 Farmer impulse set (mind you, this was three weeks ago - since then both models have gone on sale here as well). I take note of some of the prices. I head around the corner into the LEGO Store (the two shops are literally back-to-back). There's something quite fun about being in a store where they sell nothing but LEGO-related products. I enjoy looking at some of the built models. The modular houses I know of course, since they currently reside on our living room floor, right in the middle of my town. The Imperial Flagship is frickin' HUGE. So big in fact, I'm slighty put off from saving up to buy it. Where the heck am I going to keep this thing once it's built? I'm out of space as it is. The Pick-a-Brick wall disappoints me. I'm not much of a MOC-maker, but I did just do an extensive inventory of all my missing pieces. None of them are in the clear plastic bowls that are embedded in the wall. Seriously, who needs a tub full of round 2x2 tiles with a clockface on them? Huh. I look around the store. That's odd. I just saw about a dozen copies of 3221 at the Kaufhof next door, but it's not available here. Hrumph. I look around a bit more. Empty-handed, I leave the store and head back to the Kaufhof. I grab the Farmer, the Apple Tree House and the LEGO Truck. 3221 comes at a hefty price of 29.99 Euros, but when its rang up at the cash register, I only have to pay €19.99. Sweet! (turns out it's something of a marketing ploy: since its introduction, I've seen this set on "sale" practically everywhere - you can get it for €17.99 at our local Bart Smit). I exit the Kaufhof with a bag full of LEGOs. But I can't just let this go. I drove all the way to make a unique purchase at the LEGO Store, so that's what I'm going to do, dammit! Twenty minutes later, I hold in my hand a nice little LEGO bag containing a shiny green brick seperator (my first ever!) and three custom minifigs: a representation of yours truly, my girlfriend, and what I refer to as my nighttime alter ego - just for the heck of it. I drive home smiling. Good times. Day 17: Wednesday, May 26th 2010 I savor the moments. I have new LEGO waiting to be added to my town. The expansion continues! Hurray! After a day of cleaning up some of the clutter in the house here and there I sit down and build the final models. The Apple Tree House is quite nice and I dig the dark blue roof, although I'm not too hot on the very light green baseplates. Weird color. The LEGO Truck is much cooler than I'd thought. I was almost tempted to not put the stickers on the final model and just stick them on some of my own stuff. Large sticky LEGO logos FTW! The truck cabin's interior is also very very nice. It's not shown anywhere on the box, but there's some lovely details inside. There's a bed for the trucker, as well as a little TV screen. A very cool surprise. So now, finally, the town is as large as it will be... The Derby Trotter stable has a new employee and two new animal guests! Some slight rearranging in the residential area. Nobody's home... yet. Meanwhile, the toy department at the Grand Emporium receives a brand new shipment of LEGO sets! And Main Street becomes busier than ever before... ...but none of it bothers Green Grocer's two new inhabitants: yours truly and his girlfriend in the recreation of a scene in my backyard from just two days before. And finally, the last new inhabitant of my LEGO Town, bringing the total population to 193, makes sure he doesn't miss any detail in The 50 Year Brick at the local cinema... And thus ends the story of my 2010 LEGO City project... Thanks for reading! More pictures from Day 17 at Brickshelf (browser-friendly versions in the Thumbs folder).

I just received my complete collection. 16 lovely minifigs, yay! I'm going to take my sweet time "building" them. They look great so far.

Wow. Just wow.

I went out to Oberhausen today to find out what a LEGO store looks like in real life. I ended up going home with three custom minifigs and a brick seperator (my first!). I also bought 7566 (Farmer impulse set), 5891 (Apple Tree House) and 3221 (LEGO City Truck). Funny enough, I didn't get the truck at the LEGO store. They didn't have it there. They did have it at the kids department of the Kaufhaus two doors down though. Funny how that works.

[shameless plug]If you want to know more about that set, why not go here?[/shameless plug] (or here) And it is indeed a great set. Although that Rocky River Retreat doen's look too shabby either. I miss the Outdoors theme...

In 2010, I got back into LEGO. As a kid, I had a sizable town and I stuck with that theme for most of my childhood (until branching out into space LEGO later on, mostly because I thought all the trans-colored dishes and antennas looked cool). Anyway, I never really got into any of the Pirates stuff. I've spent a lot of money over the past year on a lot of City stuff. I pretty much have everything I'd want that's currently on the market. However, I do regularly find myself eyeing the Pirates sets, which look like a ton of great and charming fun. Now I know you guys might be a bit biased in this, but with Pirates not being renewed for 2010, is there still any point in getting into Pirates? With little to no opportunity for expansion (outside of digging up older sets) and a fading productline, is there still sense in collecting some of the Pirates sets as a sidedish to my main theme (City)? I'd like to hear what you guys think.

Day 9: Tuesday, May 18th 2010 I've made some small scenes in the town here and there. I got out an old tripod today and made some long lens shots of the action in the town. I rather like some of these shots where it seems almost as if you're looking out of a window in the city somewhere. So enjoy! Busy streets. The highest minifg in town: a simple construction foreman. The limo awaits... for this newlywed couple! Freshly caught criminal. "Well... there's yer problem!" Not custom, just awesome: a window-washer's work is never done! More pictures from Day 9 at Brickshelf (browser-friendly versions in the Thumbs folder).

Hey, I'd be up for that. Yes. I wish I could have it around a bit longer too. Just seeing the town slowly form was great fun as well, even if it only took seven days to physically get everything in place). Anyway... Day 7: Sunday, May 16th 2010 (part 2) My town is finished, but the building continues. As I went along re-assembling my old town sets, I wrote down what parts I was missing and I have put them all together in a database on my computer. Perhaps I'll go out and BrickLink the missing pieces at some point to complete my old sets. Of course, if I'm going to do that, I might as well check and see what else is missing. So... I spend the rest of the evening (and start of the night) reassembling every other set I have and carefully write down what is gone. Some missing pieces get found along the way, others have mysteriously vanished, some were never even there to begin with (some second hand classic space sets were missing parts when I got them). I've made a long list of missing parts and now have (again) a table full of LEGO models, along with a small pile of leftover bricks (mostly from Basic sets - oh, and a ton of spare visors ). Off to bed now. Just two Technic sets left to inventory. They're sitting in a tub somewhere, nearly entirely assembled. A poor spaceman amputee. Damn those missing pieces. More pictures from Day 7 at Brickshelf (browser-friendly versions in the Thumbs folder).

Hmyeah. Although I personally thought he had more of a resemblance to Disco Stu.

Day 7: Sunday, May 16th 2010 Well, it's done. I spend most of the morning and afternoon studying and watching some more Lost (one week until the finale, yay!). Then, late in the afternoon, I start to build my final sets. I finish with 7633 and take my time. I have a dinnerdate in the evening and I have just enough time to put the last pieces in place as I'm already stepping into my shoes to leave. The set stays on the table as I rush out the door. When I return a good two hours later, I place the last set in my town and assemble all the little dump trucks and such around it. The residential area of my town is complete, along with a brand new shop being built by my minifig inhabitants. Somehow it seems fitting that the last building put into my town is one that is still being constructed. I finished 4956 earlier in the day. I'm really happy with how the Creator houses look in a town setting. They look a lot better than I thought. I've relocated 4996. Residential area: finished. The whole town: finished. This has been quite something and I enjoy looking at my bustling town full of inhabitants just sitting there displayed in all its glory. In little over a week, I'll have to start clearing the floor again... For now, I leave you with some images of the finished town: The water area. A tilted view of the room. With the corners just outside of the frame, you can finally feel how much of the room this town really takes up. I've had to move the furniture to make space! The Small Car fits neatly into the Creator house's garage. A lone cop tries to stop a bunch of noisy street racers. Lots of traffic at the Town Square. I wonder what will be on the news tonight? More pictures from Day 7 at Brickshelf (browser-friendly versions in the Thumbs folder).

Oh, man. LEGO struck gold with these minifig series. Awesomeness.

That is awesome. The music makes it even better. ;)

Day 5: Friday, May 14th 2010 (part 2) Fairly little work on the town gets done in the rest of the day. I do spend some time in the evening moving the entire town about a foot to the right, so I can access the backdoor and the amp that's under the TV a bit better. I also lay the groundwork for the very last part of the town: the residential area and the construction site. The end is really close now. Climbing onto the dinner table for a top view of the town. I do notice I'm sorely lacking any waterfront features. I've made a little corner where I imagine there's a lake. Last year's camper is next to it. Gator Landing harbors some goldsmugglers, but the wave cops are still on the lookout, but all in all, this area remains pretty thin. My girlfriend drops by in the evening, bringing along her two sisters (one of them accompanied by her boyfriend) and they spend the next 45 minutes ogling the town. The modular buildings are a big attraction. I think very few people actually know sets like these exist. I feel glad to enlighten them. The rails have been slightly rearranged here and there and there's some more cargo activity going on here now. The complete floorplan is finished. More pictures from Day 5 at Brickshelf (browser-friendly versions in the Thumbs folder). Day 6: Saturday, May 15th 2010 Most of today was spent getting some work done and catching up on my great Lost rewatch (yes, I do have other hobbies). I build some more in the evening, but I find myself going much slower now. With the end in sight, I start to put off building the last sets, not wanting this project to end. I build only three sets tonight. Another three left for tomorrow... The first of my two Creator houses is finished. As nice as the new fire chopper looks, that thing sure is HUGE! More pictures from Day 6 at Brickshelf (browser-friendly versions in the Thumbs folder).

This looks fantastic. I suddenly lose the need for a second carriage as well (yes, yes, it would still be nice, but the proportions of the tender and just one carriage are matched quite a bit better here than in the original model).

Brickshop.nl. It comes at a price though. If you want to order a specific minifig, be prepared for a 50% price increase. Still, that gives you an exclusive minifig for the price of a regular impulse set, so I'm happy with that deal. I just ordered all 16 minifigs in one go. Unfortunately for most members here, it appears they do not ship to the United States.

Another one of these, only less professionals and more civilians, please.

Oh look, another 8683 thread... I'm glad I just ordered the 16 specific minifigures from an online store. It may have cost a little extra, but at least I'll have the complete set without all the hassle some people seem to be going through.

I really like your nice compact little buildings, but I love the tiling more than anything. Looks great!

Day 5: Friday, May 14th 2010 Train tracks! Today, the time has come for my town's rail system to be put into place. The whole thing took some puzzling and I cheated a bit here and there (some of the rails is under a bit of stress because it didn't all quite fit), but I've managed to build the roundtrip I wanted without having to go out and buy extra rails. Hurray! My town, now with more public transport than ever before! I've put the train station near Town Square. This is the town's central station. There's a second stop at the airport. Take the bus from your home to the station, then the train to the airport, and then it's off to a distant destination! (or a plane crash - ahrumph) Meanwhile at the train yard, the cargo train is getting loaded. Also, the Emerald Night (sans motor) sits in a bend as a lovely museum piece, awaiting visitors. I do wish LEGO would release that Level Train Crossing already though. This looks a bit sad (and dangerous!): Is that train about to hit the tank truck? If so, it's 'splosion time! And since you guys seemed to enjoy the Air Traffic Control pic from Monday, here's an update from today : Main Street really does tower over everything else, doesn't it? More pictures from Day 5 at Brickshelf (browser-friendly versions in the Thumbs folder).